I got an e-mail this morning telling me this set was on shop@home so I just had to swing by the Lego store and see if they had it. It was on my way home honest!

Lets us begin with the box.

They're making a big point about the light up brick.

Showing the key details of the building.

Now for what’s inside.

The contents of the box, no numbered bags here. At least it isn’t like the Merry-go-round!

Right lets take a look at the people who populate this happy land, a good selection and with women and children. Lego seem to be doing much better at producing a realistic world. The only points I dislike is a lack of printed torsos, though I suppose they’re trying to represent jumpers and cold weather gear.

Here they are these hardly folks who like the snow and cold.

A close up on the new carol singing face.

From this point the review divides in three to look at the three different elements that make up the set.

The Bench and Snow Man

Carol singers sing and a child prepares to throw a snow ball at them. The bench and snow man are well executed but nothing to write home about, what I really like in this part of the set is the lamppost which is really well done and probably the best I’ve seen.

Kids these days.

The Tree and Gifts

The tree is one of the really highlights of the set for me, its much better than any of the brick built trees we’ve had before in my opinion and the fact that a large amount of it can be rotated at will makes it all the better. The ladder stands up well and looks great, it also about time we saw more brown ladder as a castle fan this will no doubt soon be being used to scale the troll fortress.

It’s one large tree and it even has lights.

The three gifts here are well made, the jack-in-a-box is the best offering here. I can’t decide what the third one is if it’s a teaddy or some form of robot any ideas?

The three gifts, I assume bought from the toy shop.

The Toy Shop itself

So we come to the main even the toy shop itself. First the fact that Lego has decided to like the Café Corner range not have a stuff floor is good it gives an impression of a wooden floor.

Nice use of tiles to make a wooden floor.

The build is fairly straight forwards thought the roof sections were a bit fiddeley for me, though that might just be me.

Attaching the roof caused me some problems.

When it’s completed the sets looks simple picture postcard, I love the look of it and despite quite a high piece count it’s still not really very large so it haves a nice petite quality to it.

The front of house.

This however doesn’t reduce the detail the workbench inside has a toy car being worked on but the windows have these two great little micro creations.

Great detail work makes this set for me.

Finally the much anticipated light, I personally don’t see the point in the picture below you can see in use. I wouldn’t have included it myself and I don’t this the set would suffer without it or that its that useful.

Did we need it?

All together now.

All in all a great collection of winter fun.

The Rating System

Figures: 8/10 (Excellent selection, but could use more printed torsos )

Parts 9/10 (Great selection of parts and a lot of brown.)

Fun Fun Fun 8/10 (There’s a lot you can do even with just this one set which is more than can be said for so many of them)

Design 9.5/10 (Apart from the light brick which I think is unnecessary I wouldn’t change a thing)

Price 9/10 (At £39.15 it’s a steal I was expecting 50+ for this little number.)

Grand Total 43.5/50 (A high rating but a fine set deserves nothing less)

Conclusion.

As set that I’m happy to have in my hope, and I look forward to getting out my ‘Holiday’ train set from a few years ago and putting it along side. I hope we’ll see a few more winter buildings in the years to come though I don’t want to wait to long, hmm maybe a train station.

Edited October 3, 2009 by Cardinal BrickUpdate review title

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Thanks for this good and especially fast review! It gives a good impression of this winter set. I really like this set, the figures are very nice. The extras, like the bench with nice lamp posts and the big tree, make it a very nice scene all together. Very nice of LEGO to put in three normal christmas trees. The toy shop looks pretty good, better than I thought at first. It has very nice details, I especially like the chimney. I am wondering, can the light brick be lightened without pressing it? If not, then I also don't see the use of it. I'm not so fond of the light brick, they should have left it out so it could be a cheaper set.

So about the price, I'm glad it isn't very expensive. 60 euro is a pretty decent price for this amount of bricks, but it's a small set when you look at it. If it would have been 40-50 euro, like in 60 dollars ( , I should stop making comparisons with the two), I would have bought it right away. Now I'll have to think about it for a while. Thanks again for the review!

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Nice review CB - first to share. I definately plan on ordering, but haven't yet. So is the light up brick a single piece with a small battery? Would you mine sharing a close-up picture? I'd love to see it.

I love the kids, but I see what you mean about the non-printed torsos. Overall though, a very nice little set. I may have to break out the old Christmas train as well.

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Cardinal Brick, thanks for sharing this review with us. It has been a long time since you last done one, and it's nice of you to do this within such short span of time.

This set is one of the sets that I am looking forward to, such as the minifigs, shop, parts, and more importantly lots Christmas fun in it. This review has been featured in Classic-Town.net.

Nice review CB - first to share. I definately plan on ordering, but haven't yet. So is the light up brick a single piece with a small battery? Would you mine sharing a close-up picture? I'd love to see it.

Yes, you are right Brickster. I own the Exo Force, Stealth Hunter, and it seemed to make up of the similar light brick. I wonder if there is any differences to it. The Exo Force light brick was red, but this seemed to be bright yellow.

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Seriously, I must take a look at that light-up brick. I would love a few of these in the modular collection. I recently lit up my Cafe Corner with a few old 4.5V lights. They seem dim inside the large Cafe Corner.

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Cardinal Brick, thanks for sharing this review with us. It has been a long time since you last done one, and it's nice of you to do this within such short span of time.

This set is one of the sets that I am looking forward to, such as the minifigs, shop, parts, and more importantly lots Christmas fun in it. This review has been featured in Classic-Town.net.

Yes, you are right Brickster. I own the Exo Force, Stealth Hunter, and it seemed to make up of the similar light brick. I wonder if there is any differences to it. The Exo Force light brick was red, but this seemed to be bright yellow.

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Great work Cardinal, thanks for such a quick review of a beautiful set. I think it falls into the category of a must buy for me. The shop is nicely built, the toys a re a creative touch and I like the new faces for the carolers.

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Yes! As far as I know, this is the first set with dark green 2x4 plates! Perfect, it will finish up the Gordian Knot I've been working on. Great review, you just made me want it even more! I hope they get it on Amazon.co.uk, cause it's two times the cost here in Sweden.

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I'll get a few pics of the light brick tonight when I get home from work, it's much like the other 2x4 bricks with power functions applications from other sets.

Yes, in fact it's not a new piece, it was in the Agents Mobile Command Center according to Bricklink.

I bet the price of that light up brick will just keep going up and up and up.

I wouldn't be surprised. I am in love with this light already and I just got it last night. The red PF lights are okay, but they're not good for doing lights inside houses (though Dave and Stacey Sterling put them to great use in their World of Lights display at Brickworld this year). I want to make a whole winter village that lights up with these yellow lights. Simply delicious

Thanks for the review. I was reading it on the bus last night on my way to the LEGO store and it certainly got me excited for it. I put it together last night and think it was a great build. Unlike some other sets, every part of the build was unique and interesting. great set (and decently priced in the states at least)

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I'm going to buy this set together with Cafe Corner as soon as I have received my next monthly salary. I highly doubt that I'll leave the box of the Winter Toy Shop closed till Christiams. I'm pretty sure I'll open it when I have it. By the way, I find the Winter Toy Shop outstanding.